Blind residents at Swail House, in Epsom, negotiate dangerous crossings when visiting their favourite cafe (From Your Local Guardian)

Blind residents at Swail House, in Epsom, negotiate dangerous crossings when visiting their favourite cafe

7:40am Thursday 9th September 2010 in

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Staff at a cafe popular with blind people said they fear one of them will be hit by a car if the council does not improve safety measures at pedestrian crossings.

Residents at Action for Blind People’s Swail House, in Ashley Road, Epsom, regularly visit Cafe Metro, in Upper High Street, but have to ask members of the public to help them negotiate busy traffic when they reach the town centre.

Amy Quaranta, who works at Cafe Metro, said she often has to rush out to walk them across the road after spotting them struggling to find someone who will assist.

She said: “Not all the traffic lights have sound warnings and they don’t always work all the time. They have to rely on getting their ‘assistance required’ cards out and rely on the general public to help them across.

“I’ve seen them go across the road in between parked cars because they can’t figure out where they are crossing, because they can’t get their bearings.”

Tanya Gooch, 43, has been blind all her life and visits the cafe nearly every day.

She said: “I think somebody could get killed if something isn’t done about it.

“It would be lovely if something could be done, it really would.”

Residents at Swail House, run by the Action for Blind People charity, live independently but have staff at hand to offer them support when they need it.

Redd Gogna, independence, housing and support development manager at Action for Blind People, said it would be happy to advise Surrey County Council on how to make Epsom town centre more accessible for visually impaired people.

He said: “Town centres should be accessible to all, and faulty or non-existent pedestrian aids can create unnecessary barriers to independence and mobility.

“For some blind and partially sighted people it can be the difference between having the confidence to leave their homes or not.

“Where pedestrian crossing aids are faulty we need to advise the local authority so that repairs can be made. Where aids are substandard or non-existent, we would encourage the local authority to consider the needs of all its residents.

“Aids such as tactile pavements and audible warnings on pedestrian crossings help not only blind and partially sighted people, but also many other groups including children and older people, to enjoy town centres safely.”

Surrey County Council was unavailable for comment, despite requests from the Epsom Guardian.